Tamiya 1/35 SAS Jeep

[FishBowlMan]

Its the standard Tamiya SAS Jeep that's probably nearly as old as I am, so virtually every part has massive seam lines that need cleaning up. A fun build though, and I thought I'd try my hand scratch building a few extra details.





The Jerrycan racks are made from 0.3mm brass sheet - some soldered and some CA glued. They're a bit agricultural, but hopefully with a lick of paint, some weathering and some stowage, they'll blend in a bit.



The mats in the footwell are a couple of squares of 4x6 mesh from Eduard, and the bonnet (hood ) catch is stretched sprue.

I need to dent and fit the radiator condenser canister, and add the hose.

Next up is priming and painting.

[Paul]

Nice work my mate nige is building this same kit i think

[FishBowlMan]

Nice work my mate nige is building this same kit i think

He is, and he's done a much better job on the detail parts than I have on mine

[panzerjager]

Great fun to see that classic kit again,i remember building that back in the early nineties.

[Coen]

That looks awesome dude! Sometimes breathing life back into those old creaky kits is a hobby all on it's own.
Nice mods.

[FishBowlMan]

Thanks for your comments, folks. They're much appreciated.

I'm having a blast making this kit again. I also built one of these back in the mid 1980's I guess, during my original stint at this hobby. I think it was the first non-matchbox kit I'd ever seen, as well as the first time I'd used anything other than Humbrol enamel paint. That's small town Essex for ya

Primer has been applied - Vallejo Rotbraun. Why that colour? Because I had it handy.



The above photo highlights the fact that I really need more practice with an airbrush! Most of the coat I'm very pleased with - then there's the 2 enormous paint splats on the bonnet and the one on the mudguard! I'll pretend it was deliberate so I can see how well the Vallejo primer sands.




The above photo highlights the fact that I really need to get better light(s) available in the room when I am painting. I've missed an awful lot of areas. Could have sworn I covered it all.

One thing I have learnt is that close photography is invaluable for picking up flaws the naked eye just can't see. Lee / Paul - there's a great advert for your forum as I wouldn't have taken photos of this if I wasn't going to be posting them here.

[Bissyboat]

Nice progress on the jeep.

[Nige99]

Nice job so far! Love the etch brass you done yourself. Looks so much better than the standard kit I'm doing.

I have got hold of the Dragon SAS jeep to. It's much better than Tamiya.

[Paul]

Nice job so far! Love the etch brass you done yourself. Looks so much better than the standard kit I'm doing.

I have got hold of the Dragon SAS jeep to. It's much better than Tamiya.

That dragon kits is superb mate, looking forward to seeing you build that bad boy

[PaulAyrey]

Great job so far, nice to see a classic kit receiving such attention.

[FishBowlMan]

Cheers for your comments, gents - its a trip down memory lane

Yeah, the Dragon kit does look good. Having said that, its 2 or 3 times the price I paid for my Tamiya one, so it bloody well ought to be.

Got to say that this one is incredibly tempting though:


Anyway! Enough idle banter!! To business!!!

The top coat has been applied - Vallejo Sand Yellow (70.916) and, wow, what a struggle. I must have given this beastie 7 or 8 sprays and am still not really happy with the finish. I could not get the paint to spray nicely from one day to the next. Too thick. Too thin. You name it, it did it. To be fair though, its only about the 5th time I've used an airbrush so I think a lot of the problems are due to my inexperience and lack of practice.






I'll tidy up the wheels before assembly and some of the darker areas are more to do with bad lighting for the photos, but I just can't seem to get the interior of the back of the jeep sprayed nicely. Any suggestions how to get the airbrush into confined spaces would be most welcome.



Maybe something as fiddly as the jeep is not the best model to use to practice airbrushing technique as there are so many nooks and crannies, hidden parts and hard to reach areas.

Still, as Switcher would say, "it is what it is". At least with military vehicles there is the stowage, chipping and weathering effects to cover a multitude of sins. Having said that, I've never attempted those either, so I'll be looking for something to cover those up as well.

[FishBowlMan]

After a manic few days at work, I finally got round to starting on a few of the details today:





Tyres painted with Tamiya XF-85 Rubber Black. Engine and other running gear painted using a 60:30:10 mix of Vallejo's Gun Metal Grey (70.863) : German Camo Black / Brown (70.822) : Black (70.950).

I spent a ridiculously long time removing the extra plastic (not flash - just not fully moulded) from the Vickers K machine guns to create the gap below the barrel, and the 2 holes in the stock. Looking again at the pictures, I realise I need to scratchbuild and add the sights.

All the weapons and magazines have been painted with Vallejo's Gun Metal Grey (70.863), mixed with a spot of Black (70.950).

The various bags, nets and haversacks have been painted using a 50:50 mix of Vallejo English Uniform (70.921) and Green Brown (70.879). Each bag will have various different washes and highlights of browns and / or green so they don't all end up the same colour.

The crates for the magazines were base coated using Vallejo Tan Yellow (70.912) and were then given a wash using the diluted mixture used above.

The seat cushions were stippled using quite thick Vallejo Khaki (70.988) to hopefully create a bit of texture, and have been given a wash using the above brown mixture just to break up the colour a bit.

[FishBowlMan]

I attempted some chipping with mixed results:





The 1st layer was done using a 50:50 mix of the top coat - Vallejo Sand Yellow (70.916) and white (70.951). For the 2nd layer, meant to represent the bare metal, I used German Panzer Grey (74.643). In hindsight, I should have mixed some steel with this, for a slightly more metallic finish. It looks better in the photos than in real life.

Next stage is going to be a dot filter, and I'm hoping that things will blend together a bit better.

[Donkeywalloper]

You know Fish, I like it a lot.
I think we all get overly critical at times with our models but that's cuz we put a lot into them. To be honest we than troll around the Net and find better examples and it puts our minds in a tumble.
Your doing a great job and it's going to look awesome.

[apraedel]

Still love this classic modell. I will build one as well, with some Eduard PE parts added. Well done so far !

[FishBowlMan]

You know Fish, I like it a lot.
I think we all get overly critical at times with our models but that's cuz we put a lot into them. To be honest we than troll around the Net and find better examples and it puts our minds in a tumble.
Your doing a great job and it's going to look awesome.

Thank you, DW. That's very kind of you to say so. I do agree with you regarding the internet. Its a wonderful tool for learning tips, tricks and techniques, but you have to be very careful not to be too hard on yourself when looking at other people's work. To be fair to myself, I quite like most of the actual chipping, just not the grey colour I've used. In the photos it looks pretty good to me, just in the flesh it looks like grey paint, rather than the bare metal I was hoping for. Lesson learned for me is that when trying something new, practice first to make sure you get the colour you're happy with

Still love this classic modell. I will build one as well, with some Eduard PE parts added. Well done so far !

Thanks, mate I did briefly consider the Eduard PE set, but decided that as this was to be my first kit after 20 something years away, I'd use it as a practice / learning experience with a bit of scratchbuilding as well and save my pennies for another jeep in the future. I hope you post some progress of yours when you come to do it.



My very first attempt at dot filtering is also the first time I've ever used oil paints, and I'm absolutely delighted with the results. The idea was to break up the monotony of the Vallejo Sand Yellow giving a bit of tonal variation without necessarily leaving streaks or patches.

The oil paints used are cheap and nasty - a set of 10 colours for £1 from "The Pound Shop".

I used 4 colours: white, yellow, orange (funny colour orange if you ask me, but what do you expect from a tube of paint costing 10p), and light brown. The orange and brown were used sparingly as I didn't want to darken the overall colour too much.

Apply the dots:



I then brushed through with a cheap, flat brush moistened with white spirit until the streaks of oil paint were removed, basically leaving a very subtle muli-tone filter.

Here are some pictures of the results. The paint is still damp, so some parts look a little shiny.









Two questions. First, how long this is likely to take to dry?

Secondly, if I decide to apply an oil paint filter over the top, do I need to apply a layer of varnish first, or can I just use the filter directly? In other words, will a layer of white spirit remove the dot filter I have applied, or will it be cured enough that it will remain?

[Nige99]

Excellent build so far! Your attention to detail is spot on. I think if you've already glossed the model then you can keep adding your filters.

[FishBowlMan]

Excellent build so far! Your attention to detail is spot on. I think if you've already glossed the model then you can keep adding your filters.

Thanks, Nige. I'm enjoying learning these techniques. I followed your build closely - great inspiration for me.

As for the filters, to be honest, I haven't glossed my model at all. For the dot filters, I assumed that the oil-based filter could be safely applied over the water-based Vallejo base coat. What I've been wondering is now that I have a thin layer of oil paint (applied with a white spirit thinner), if adding another layer of oil-based filter (with more white spirit) would start to remove the dot-filter layer.

[panzerjager]

Exellent work on the Jeep,paintjob and chipping looks spot on i think

[Bissyboat]

Excellent work on the salt chipping. Looks like the real article.

[Donkeywalloper]

Don't be to hard Fish on yourself.
It looks really, really good.
It made me sit up your comments about novice spraying at rear of vehicles with deep recess and nooks and crannies.
The 1/48 Jackal I have sprayed using the AB after a 30 year hiatus has been "testing".
Each time you use a technique its a lesson and a learning curve. I probably have read to much rather than getting on with the "stuff". After a while your head overloads with techniques and means and ways, and to be honest the best thing is to have a play.
This jeep looks awesome keep it up, it's great.
John

[Daishi12]

Looks superb to me mate, I think that just a little work with the weathering powders (Lee and Paul's Ultimate powders) will generate a great "how to" picture build

[FishBowlMan]

A belated thanks for the recent comments and encouragement.

Work and other commitments kept me away from the bench for far too long, but I managed to grab a few hours here and there and thought I'd get the figures done, and work on detailing some of the boxes, cans and other bumflufferies.

These have just been placed on / in the jeep to give me an idea of what will fit and also what will be visible. One slight annoyance is that I have a couple of German-style jerry cans that I wanted to use, but they are slightly larger than the allied ones, and won't quite fit into the storage rack that I've built. Not to worry, as I've tentative plans for a vignette and I can make use of them in that.


The steering column and wheel are going to end up at odd angles as its the easiest way to get the driver's hands to sit on the wheel!




Whoops! I forgot that the undersides of the jerry cans on the bonnet would be visible.


The gunner is meant to be holding a water bottle in his left hand. Only noticed it was missing when I looked at the photo!

I had to sand the figure's backsides flat and remove a sizable chunk of their feet to get them to fit into the vehicle properly, but considering they've spent the best part of a month sitting on a cocktail stick, I don't think they mind too much!

Next up (listed here as a reminder for me):

1: Chip and weather the jerry cans.
2: Finish the detail painting and add the rest of the stowage, spare wheels and sand unboggydown thingies!
3: Add the condensor for the radiator and the appropriate hose.
4: Make some straps for the cans and various bags.
5: Try and build the sights for the guns (and attach the magazines that I've also just noticed are missing).
6: Paint the headlights.
7: Paint the sun compass.

[gustavlekstal]

Great work with the figures. I do enjoy the wooden box!

[panzerjager]

A belated thanks for the recent comments and encouragement.

Work and other commitments kept me away from the bench for far too long, but I managed to grab a few hours here and there and thought I'd get the figures done, and work on detailing some of the boxes, cans and other bumflufferies.

These have just been placed on / in the jeep to give me an idea of what will fit and also what will be visible. One slight annoyance is that I have a couple of German-style jerry cans that I wanted to use, but they are slightly larger than the allied ones, and won't quite fit into the storage rack that I've built. Not to worry, as I've tentative plans for a vignette and I can make use of them in that.


The steering column and wheel are going to end up at odd angles as its the easiest way to get the driver's hands to sit on the wheel!




Whoops! I forgot that the undersides of the jerry cans on the bonnet would be visible.


The gunner is meant to be holding a water bottle in his left hand. Only noticed it was missing when I looked at the photo!

I had to sand the figure's backsides flat and remove a sizable chunk of their feet to get them to fit into the vehicle properly, but considering they've spent the best part of a month sitting on a cocktail stick, I don't think they mind too much!

Next up (listed here as a reminder for me):

1: Chip and weather the jerry cans.
2: Finish the detail painting and add the rest of the stowage, spare wheels and sand unboggydown thingies!
3: Add the condensor for the radiator and the appropriate hose.
4: Make some straps for the cans and various bags.
5: Try and build the sights for the guns (and attach the magazines that I've also just noticed are missing).
6: Paint the headlights.
7: Paint the sun compass.

It looks Amazing,really good detail work!Figures really was the icing on the cake.

[Donkeywalloper]

Love your list to do:
It's something I do all the time.
Awesome build mate.

[FishBowlMan]

Thanks again for the comments, chaps. I'm rather pleased with the figures. I've gone for the subtle approach with the shadows and highlights, especially on the paler items. I need to get some better lighting for my photos. I'm having to use the flash on my camera at the moment, which is really washing out a lot of the detail in the photos.

I find the little "to-do" lists incredibly helpful, especially if I know I'm going to be away from the bench for a while. Of course it helps if you remember to write down everything you've spotted. Unfortunately, I forgot to add "Paint the rear lights and reflectors BEFORE attaching the spare wheels". So having fitted them, I had to take them off, do the painting, and reattach them.


I've added the condenser. The hose is a leg from a through-hole resistor. Headlights painted using Vallejo Natural Steel, followed by a couple of washes of very thin White. Reflectors painted using Vallejo Red, and also Red with a dash of Yellow. The needle for the sun compass is a very thin piece of stretched sprue, and has been given an initial coat of Natural Steel.

The straps are made from a piece of masking tape folded over on itself, cut into thin strips and painted with Vallejo English Uniform. I'll try making some buckles, maybe from 0.2mm wire or another resistor leg or silver foil and see if they're any good. If not, I may splash out on a Verlinden or Aber PE set.

I think I may be able to make gun sights for the vickers mg's using 0.2mm wire, but again, this may end up being too fiddly. Hey, no pain, no gain!

Incidentally, the middle handle on each of the jerry cans was made from stretched sprue. I've never worked out why this has been omitted from all Tamiya's jerry cans - at least in their early production kits. Wouldn't have thought it would have been too hard to have included it in the moulding.






The brown thing sticking up behind the driver is part of the belt holding the jerry cans that I forgot to place in position before taking the photo.



I still need to chip and weather the jerry cans and condenser, but decided to do this in situ, attach a strap to the (now painted) water bottle for the gunner, add a few more bits and bobs in the back of the jeep - helmet, shovel, personal weapons etc, and touch up some of the painting before giving all a pin wash and a matt coat.

Then its on to making a vignette. I'm thinking... sand, but other than that I've not got much further.

[UKguyInUSA]

Splendiferously fantabulous!

[Donkeywalloper]

Its absolutely brilliant old boy.
Bang on,
John

[felisbarcinonensis]

Fantastic model John! you pay attention to every little detail, I love it!

[Donkeywalloper]

Fantastic model John! you pay attention to every little detail, I love it!

I'm John, not sure of Fish name mate. If it's John I look a right berk, not for the first time.
Still love the Jeep Fish.

John

[felisbarcinonensis]

Fantastic model John! you pay attention to every little detail, I love it!

I'm John, not sure of Fish name mate. If it's John I look a right berk, not for the first time.
Still love the Jeep Fish.

John

Hi John! and Hi John! Hi both of you! it's a small fishbowl world!

[Donkeywalloper]

John

[FishBowlMan]

Fantastic model John! you pay attention to every little detail, I love it!

I'm John, not sure of Fish name mate. If it's John I look a right berk, not for the first time.
Still love the Jeep Fish.

John

Sorry John (you berk ) I'm also John I know folk often mix up Lee and Paul. Maybe we're the tribute act

Hi John! and Hi John! Hi both of you! it's a small fishbowl world!

Small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

Thanks for the comments re. the jeep, folks. I really must get round to painting a couple of extra figures and construct a simple vignette, but I got distracted with the D-Day group build... and then that got distracted with "proper" work

[Donkeywalloper]

Fantastic model John! you pay attention to every little detail, I love it!

I'm John, not sure of Fish name mate. If it's John I look a right berk, not for the first time.
Still love the Jeep Fish.

John

Sorry John (you berk ) I'm also John I know folk often mix up Lee and Paul. Maybe we're the tribute act

Hi John! and Hi John! Hi both of you! it's a small fishbowl world!

Small world, but I wouldn't want to paint it

Thanks for the comments re. the jeep, folks. I really must get round to painting a couple of extra figures and construct a simple vignette, but I got distracted with the D-Day group build... and then that got distracted with "proper" work

Confirmed that I am a Berk (Just had a check, and a pat down).
Hello John Like I said still think the Jeep is awesome.
John

[FishBowlMan]

Aaaaaaaand its time for this wee beastie to rear its ugly head again.

Am planning a small vignette thing featuring the jeep and a couple of dudes taken from the Masterbox Allied Forces set:



The idea will be a "random" meeting out in the desert between the SAS and a couple of non-specifed guerilla types. Nothing fancy. Sand, a few rock type bits. Maybe a scrub bush.

I believe this figure set was based on characters from a film. I think the first guy is Somalian:








The other chap is meant to be French Foreign Legion. Looking at his eyes, I reckon he's been smoking more than just Gauloises! I'll have to re-do those, or try and find a pair of sunglasses for him.






I painted them randomly using a combination of colours that blended together well, rather than any specific uniforms. For the foreign legion guy, I need to add the rifle strap and paint his watch and cap badge.

My lighting is crap, so the highlights and shadows have not come out well in the photos.

Next step is to apply dust pigments to the jeep and figures, and then start work on the vignette.

[Donkeywalloper]

Hi John
I think your not giving yourself enough credit.
Both figures are really great. Unusual and great choice for a desert duo.
Nice to see you back in the glue and paint.

John

[Coen]

Wow!! Those are well done John!
Excellent details dude.

[FishBowlMan]

Thanks, John and Mike. Its good to be back!

I thought a couple of figures would be a relaxing way to ease my way back into the fold after a couple of months away from the bench. I'm really rather pleased with them, as I've not done much figure painting before. A couple of days on and off, and there's a nearly finished article - feels like I've completed something, which was the kick start I needed.

But... those eyes, those eyes!!! (more specifically, the right pupil) Its been following me round the room!

To be honest, I hadn't really noticed it until I looked at the photo, then spent a few minutes laughing to myself, and thought that I'd better sort it out for my own sanity if nothing else. Will be painting a couple more figures up soon for another dio, so I'll get it done when I break out the flesh tones.

Had a very therapeutic time grinding up some cat litter with a pestle and mortar and have glued some wood onto a picture frame to act as a base for the vignette. Hopefully it'll be dry tomorrow and then I can play with some modelling clay.

[Donkeywalloper]

Its just great to see you back on here John.
Figures, ah figures
I had some fun with the Dragon set I used for the Meng, but I did start to enjoy painting them, and they did come out well (after much over-painting to scrub out mistakes).
Eyes are just the hardest thing out.
Its either scary
Stick or twist
Or huge black pits that look frightening beyond belief.
Being R/H, the right-hand eye was not to bad to do (unless, and this happened a lot, I'd get the shakes as my hand got closer to the figure ).
The left-hand eye,
I learnt the tip of rotating the head upside down, so the forehead was pointing down so to speak.
Still bloody hard, and the expression if the eyes were wrong was just hiliarious.
Mrs DW would look at my hours of work, and I could see the smile starting to appear in the corner of her mouth. We would then sink in to fits of giggles at my dodgy attempts.

Still though, you have done a great job mate.
John

[FishBowlMan]

Thanks John. Fun but frustrating is how I describe my figure painting. I really do enjoy doing them, but by the time I get back to the bench I seem to have forgotten most of what I learnt from the previous session.. Still, practice, practice and as long as I remember a bit more each time I return I'll be happy.

Finally got round to the planning and initial construction stages for the base for the jeep and aforementioned dudes.

I've gone with a cheapo picture frame and glued a piece of leftover chip board in so I don't need to use as much clay. The edges have been masked to hopefully create a nice border. The black surround is just a sheet of wet and dry paper so the base stands out from the brown work bench for photographic reasons. Its not part of the set up:


Here's a quick mock up of what I have in mind. I'll add more pebbles / cat litter into the clay but this is just an idea for how I want to proceed:


The front-right wheel doesn't sit properly so it can balance on a stone to ensure all four wheels touch the ground. The clay will be slightly uneven when applied. I'm going for a rocky desert feel - not a sand-coloured snooker table!


Overhead shot that I can use as a reference during construction.


I'll be adding pigments to the jeep and figures after I've painted the dio when I know exactly what colour the surface is going to turn out to be.

If anyone has any comments, suggestions, criticisms, etc then please let me know - preferably before I attack it with the DAS clay!

[Donkeywalloper]

Hi John
Always difficult with desert scenes as let's be honest it's sand, rocks and some very worn tundra.
To be honest, you'll crack it with this Dio, as the simpler it is the more the eye will be lead to the great vehicle and figure work.
Good to see the progress mate.
John

[FishBowlMan]

Always difficult with desert scenes as let's be honest it's sand, rocks and some very worn tundra.

Hi John. To be honest, that's why I chose this for my first attempt. Something nice and simple to get the ball rolling.

I've applied a thin layer of DAS clay over the base. Then used the jeep to add some vague tyre tracks. I didn't want these too pronounced as its on a dusty, rocky surface rather than sand dunes. I also pressed the larger stones into the clay and marked the position of the figures and jerry cans so they would sit flat on to the surface when positioned later:


I then added the smaller stones randomly across the base, pressing them into the clay slightly. These are gravel pieces "borrowed" from my friend's driveway:


Finally, I added some cat litter that had been ground using a pestle and mortar, followed by patches of cat litter "dust" made by grinding even finer. This is just to give some texture to the base:


Now I sits and waits for it to dry. May have to coat the base with some diluted PVA glue to make sure all the fine particles are properly stuck down.

[PaulAyrey]

Looks great, can't wait to see how it finishes up!

[FishBowlMan]

Looks great, can't wait to see how it finishes up!

Cheers, Paul. Its coming along slowly.

Applied some primer. I wanted a good, thick coat so I started off with Vallejo German Panzer Grey (74.603). It provided a good contrast with the pebbles and clay so I could see anywhere I'd missed and apply more if needed :


Then I added a couple of layers of Vallejo IDF Israeli Sand Grey 61-73 (74.614). This would have the advantage of being a neutral colour underneath the further coats of the lighter sandy colours:


When the primer had dried, I airbrushed some tones on to the base. Starting with (all Vallejo) Sand Brown (71.034), I then mixed in some Middlestone (70.882), Tan Yellow (70.912) and finally Iraqui Sand (70.819). Each addition was applied in thinner layers moving towards the front-right corner. The aim was to leave the back-left corner darker providing a slight variation from back to front. At each stage, small patches were sprayed in random places across the whole base to give some variety.

The effect is quite subtle and doesn't really show up in the photos, but I'm quite pleased with the general effect:




Next step is a bit of detail painting to give the bigger rocks a bit of variety in colour.

[FishBowlMan]

I'm on a roll now, so I've painted some rocks in various mixes of browns and tans to add some variety. I used (all Vallejo) English Uniform (70.921), Sand Brown (71.034), Middlestone (70.882) and Iraqui Sand (70.819). My method was to put a couple of drops into the pallette and paint a random rock. Then add a drop or 2 of a different colour and paint another random rock. Its a bit garish, but the next step is a wash, which should blend it all together a bit more as well as creating some shadows to bring out the smaller details:


And a picture with the jeep in place to see how it looked. Jeep needs a fair amount of dust effects, but that will come later, when I apply pigments to the base:

[Coen]

That's looking properly cool John!!!

[FishBowlMan]

That's looking properly cool John!!!

Thanks, Mike I've been following along with this excellent tutorial video from Carlos Mendes:

[youtube]gyVNwsStK9A[/youtube]
At the time of posting it has nearly 4100 views and I reckon I've probably contributed half of those!

[FishBowlMan]

Made a wash using a mixture of yellow, orange, light brown and a spot of black oil paints mixed with white spirit and applied it all over the base. In hindsight, I shouldn't have added the black, but it'll do:




I love how all the little stones are now visible.

When the wash had dried, I then drybrushed all over using a mix of Vallejo Sand Yellow (70.916) and Iraqui Sand (70.819) in a 1:1 ratio:



This has toned down some of the darker rocks and blended everything together.

Probably pigments next. The end is in sight!

[Coen]

That's awesome work John! Well done bud.
It will certainly complement the jeep and crew and complete the story.
The end is nigh.